A PATTERN OF MISCONDUCT: A special report.; The Violent Life of Tito Wooten

By MIKE FREEMAN with STEVE STRUNSKY

Published: February 27, 1998

The proceeding in Hasbrouck Heights Municipal Court last Dec. 17 lasted mere minutes. Tito Wooten, a star defensive back for the New York Giants, was facing charges that he had choked, beaten and bloodied his girlfriend, Akina Wilson. Wilson, who had told the police that she was pregnant when the Dec. 7 incident occurred in a New Jersey hotel room, appeared in the courtroom alongside Wooten.

In a move that prosecutors later conceded was unusual, Pasquale F. Gianetta, Wooten's lawyer, was allowed to speak on behalf of both the accuser and the accused. Gianetta told Judge Harry Chandless that Wilson wished to drop the charge.

The prosecutor, Frederick Allen, despite a police report that stated that Wooten had pushed Wilson to the floor, punched her in the face and ''choked her by the neck with his hands,'' spoke briefly with Wilson and then agreed that the charges be dismissed. There was no mention of the fact that Wooten had twice before been arrested on charges of assaulting women. The idea of counseling was not brought up.

The judge instructed the couple to be ''careful not to cause any similar conduct,'' and, in closing the hearing, remarked to Wooten, ''Have a good game.''

Wooten did have a good game four days later against the Dallas Cowboys, and earlier this month the Giants signed the fourth-year emerging defensive star to a long-term contract worth $8 million.

But the 26-year-old Wooten's arrest on charges of assaulting Akina Wilson was only the latest in a series of arrests and assorted other misconduct for a player living at the margins of accountability. And so in signing Wooten, a promising player but hardly a marquee performer, the Giants appear to have again demonstrated how much a professional sports franchise is willing to countenance -- and gamble financially -- in the name of talent.

The National Football League, like all professional sports, has always had its share of troubled, even criminally violent players. In the last five years, at least 37 current or recently retired N.F.L. players have been arrested or accused of family violence crimes, from assault to kidnapping. Those incidents clearly contributed to the N.F.L.'s adopting a domestic violence policy last year for dealing with its players, although the policy leaves it to individual teams to impose any mandatory counseling.

Akina Wilson's life ended shortly after the December court hearing when she committed suicide at the age of 22. She was found dead on Jan. 10 of carbon monoxide poisoning on the floor of Wooten's garage in West Paterson, N.J., his Mercedes 550 sedan idling alongside her. There is no way to say what led Wilson to kill herself, but friends and family said her final months were not easy, at least in part because of her volatile relationship with Wooten.

Wooten has been arrested five times over the last six years, once on charges of assaulting his wife, once on charges of beating another girlfriend, once on charges of stealing a car. Wooten, who was expelled from both the University of North Carolina and Northeast Louisiana University, has also been repeatedly fined by the Giants for violating team policies. Once, according to current and former team officials and an N.F.L. executive, Wooten was found intoxicated and asleep behind the wheel of his car on the New Jersey Turnpike.

But Wooten, who has twice pleaded guilty to reduced charges, has wound up only paying modest fines. In New Jersey, prosecutors have twice agreed to dismiss the domestic violence cases -- the women involved refusing to testify or asking to withdraw the charges. And both the Giants and the N.F.L., while saying that they have held to league policy, say that Wooten has never been disciplined beyond being ordered to seek occasional counseling.

Ernie Accorsi, who was recently named general manager of the Giants, said the decision to sign Wooten was approved by the club's owners, Wellington Mara and Robert Tisch.

''The organization tries to take great care in these situations,'' Accorsi said. ''We made a decision based on the information we had.''

Wooten declined to be interviewed for this article, but issued a statement through the Giants that read in part: ''I've had a lot of pain and hurt in my life. A lot of people have to deal with those kinds of things in their lives. I've made mistakes. I've done things I'm not proud of. Again, like a lot of people, if I could change things in my life, I would, but I can't. I can only move forward.''

Meanwhile, in Teaneck, N.J., Akina Wilson's parents, are bitter -- both about what they say was Wooten's abuse of their daughter and by the Giants' decision to reward him with a multimillion-dollar contract.

''I am not going to sit here and tell you my daughter was the perfect child, but she was trying to improve her life,'' said Joyce Wilson, who said her daughter was anxious and confused about her immediate future. ''When she met Tito Wooten, everything got worse for her. He may have been this big-time football player, but to me he was a coward who would beat up my daughter. I will always wonder why she put up with him and what made her feel like she had to die and what could have been done to help her.''

A Talented But Troubled Athlete

Tito Wooten was born in Goldsboro, N.C., in 1971. His mother, then only 14, left him to be raised by his grandmother, Callie Wooten. Wooten became a star football player at Goldsboro High School and went on to the University of North Carolina. Once there, though, he wound up declared academically ineligible by the end of his freshman year. He then wound up in jail.

On July 9, 1992, according to police and court documents, Wooten was arrested for allegedly stealing a 1988 Honda Accord. He was charged with felony larceny and jailed. He later reached a plea agreement and paid an undisclosed fine, but was expelled from the university.

Wooten next enrolled at Northeast Louisiana. But he was arrested on charges of assaulting his wife, Brenda. Wooten agreed to pay a fine, court records in Monroe, La., show. He was expelled and soon entered the 1994 N.F.L. draft. The Giants selected Wooten in the fourth round. Wooten, despite a number of girlfriends, remains married to Brenda, though she does not live with him.

''Tito, if you ask me, is a good person,'' said Ed Zaunbrecher, the football coach at Northeast Louisiana. ''I don't think he looks for trouble, but he is one of those guys who just seems to always be in trouble.''

Wooten's troubles with the Giants, current and former coaches said, took myriad forms and often involved an inability to handle his finances. But he performed well on the field, becoming one of the team's most valued defensive players.

Wooten, according to records and the accounts of team officials and hotel managers, has lived a nomadic life as a member of the Giants. In four years with the team, he has had seven addresses in northern New Jersey and has spent parts of every season living in hotels around Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

One reason for the repeated moves and the hotel stays appears to have been Wooten's problems managing his money. Despite making from $200,000 to $400,000 a year, Wooten has been sued at least twice for failure to pay his bills -- once by a car leasing company, Blasko Auto Leasing, and once by Prime Hospitality, a firm seeking payment of a hotel bill. Once in 1996, Sam Calello, the manager of the Harmon Meadow Holiday Inn, filed a criminal complaint for theft of services against Wooten, dropping the charges once the player's agent paid the $2,000 bill.

His troubles, though, went beyond paying his bills. In November 1995, he missed a mandatory bed check before a game against the Arizona Cardinals, said a former coach. That year, having acquired the nickname Thug Life among his teammates, Wooten, with $1,000 in fines, led the team in violations of rules.

One night in the 1996 season, Wooten was found by the police inebriated and asleep behind the wheel of his car on the shoulder of the New Jersey Turnpike, say former team coaches and officials and an N.F.L. executive familiar with Wooten's history. While officials with the police said no record of an incident existed, the former Giants officials said Wooten, whose driver's license was then suspended, was taken to a state police station house for the night and returned to Giants Stadium the next morning. No arrest was made, and the Giants did not discipline Wooten.

Meanwhile, Wooten was becoming more of a force on the field.

''We looked at Tito as someone who could have been one of the top three safeties in this league,'' said one of Wooten's former assistant coaches, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. ''That's why he was able to get away with so many things.''

The coach concluded: ''Those are the facts of life. Anyone who says every player is treated equally, that's a lie.''

The Giants, who often say they weigh personal character very seriously in their personnel decisions, have made exceptions. Lawrence Taylor's troubled personal life did not prevent him from enjoying a long career with the team. And last year, the Giants signed Christian Peter, a defensive lineman with a history of violent problems with women, although they went to great lengths to portray Peter as rehabilitated.

Clearly, the Giants recognize they have taken a risk with Wooten. In one measure of concern, Wooten's agent, Ted Marchibroda Jr., has power of attorney. The contract also links $1.5 million of the $8 million to demands that Wooten remain chiefly in New Jersey throughout the year -- working out under the supervision of team officials.

But Marchibroda said there was a fuller picture of Wooten. ''As long as I've known Tito, he has been nothing but a good person,'' Marchibroda said. ''He has a good heart.'' Marchibroda added, ''He is one of those guys who does a lot of good things but doesn't talk about it.''

Jim Fassel, who took over as the Giants' coach in 1997, said he was prepared to be tough with Wooten.

''We are not going to baby-sit Tito,'' Fassel said. ''I just came into this guy's life. I know since I came here he has done what I have asked him to do. He has not been perfect, but he is trying to change his life.''

Three Women, Three Arrests

Tito Wooten's most serious problems with the law have involved incidents or allegations of domestic violence -- problems that began in college.

On April 27, 1994, according to police records, the police were called to a parking lot outside a Northeast Louisiana dormitory. Wooten and his wife, Brenda, were fighting.

The responding officers saw Wooten punching his wife in the face. Wooten, the records say, also struck one of the officers. Wooten was arrested on charges of battery of his wife, battery of a police officer, resisting arrest and drunken and disorderly conduct. Larry Ellerman, the school's public safety director, said Wooten paid a fine and court costs after pleading guilty to assaulting the officer. Brenda Wooten did not ultimately press charges. Tito Wooten was expelled from the university.

Wooten's second arrest on charges of assaulting a woman came two years later. On Aug. 18, 1996, the police in Hackensack, N.J., responded to a call of domestic violence. Lydia Urbina, a girlfriend, told the police that the 195-pound Wooten had grabbed her by the throat and thrown her over a couch, Deputy Chief Edward G. Koeser said.

Wooten was arrested, and Urbina and her family all sought and were granted a protection order against Wooten. But Urbina declined to testify against Wooten. George Geyer, Urbina's father, said in a recent interview that his family had feared for its safety. But he said that his daughter was currently involved with Wooten again and that ''everything is fine now.''

The hearing in Hackensack Municipal Court on dismissing the charges lasted barely minutes. The municipal prosecutor, Michael A. Gallucci, said the state wished to drop the charges. Wooten was ordered by Judge Louis Dinice to pay $200 in court costs. Gallucci did not return repeated telephone calls, and a spokeswoman for Judge Dinice said he would not comment.

Roughly a year later, early last Dec. 8, Wooten was once more arrested, this time inside Room 294 of the Holiday Inn in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J.

Akina Wilson, who had told friends she was two months pregnant with Wooten's child, told the police that she had argued with Wooten when he tried to question her about where she had been that night. According to the police report, Wooten knocked her to the floor, punched her in the face and choked her. The police report said Wilson was found with ''obvious cuts on her hands'' and blood under her nose.

Wilson signed a criminal complaint against Wooten and was granted an order of protection. However, the police, who state officials said were obligated to sign the complaint as well, did not. Chuck Davis, a spokesman for the New Jersey Attorney General's office, said the police have to sign a complaint when there is evidence of abuse to protect victims from intimidation from their abusers.

According to family, friends, and hotel employees, the relationship between the football player and Wilson included frequent, often dangerously bitter. While Wooten rented a condominium in West Paterson, Wilson and Wooten often lived at the Hasbrouck Heights Holiday Inn hotel in a room that the hotel manager said was paid for by the Giants.

John Thomas, Wilson's cousin, said that he often heard the two arguing viciously. Joyce Wilson said that she had urged her daughter to break off the relationship, but that Akina Wilson was ''in awe of him because he was a football player.'' Randy Antiporda, a night manager at the Holiday Inn, said he frequently heard fighting and loud noises from inside the room, often with Wilson's voice being the loudest.

When the case against Wooten came to Hasbrouck Heights Municipal Court last Dec. 17, the hearing again was brief.

Allen, the Hasbrouck Heights municipal prosecutor, said the police told him there were no serious injuries, despite the detailed reports that stated otherwise. Allen, in an interview, said there was ''a gray area of what is signs of abuse.'' Judge Chandless in an interview said that he granted the dismissal in part because Akina Wilson had already agreed to withdraw the order of protection.

''What I really was concerned about was whether she really was injured and whether she really wanted to withdraw these charges,'' Allen said. ''Whether she wanted to continue the relationship, I don't think that's any of my business. She seemed very self-assured.''

Evan Clark, a professor of public administration at Rutgers University at Newark and the director of the domestic violence training project at Yale New Haven Hospital in Connecticut, said many New Jersey domestic violence cases wind up dismissed in much the same way.

''I've been in New Jersey courts and it's unbelievable to watch,'' he said. ''The judge asks, 'Is it O.K. now?' and the batterer is standing right next to her, and she says, 'Yes.' ''

An Angry, Disbelieving Family

The N.F.L.'s policy on domestic violence demands that any player accused of a violent crime submit to counseling. A failure to do so can result in fines or suspensions. A conviction for such a crime can result in suspension, and a second conviction can result in being banned from the game.

Officials with the Giants said their team psychologist, Joel Goldberg, has helped coordinate some counseling for Wooten over the last two years, although they said it had not been continual and they could not describe its exact nature.

Joe Browne, a spokesman for the league, said confidentiality concerns prevented him from discussing how much counseling Wooten had received and whether it had met the spirit of the league's policy. Browne said the policy was ''working well.''

Akina Wilson's mother, disbelieving, read about Wooten's contract this month in the newspaper. Wooten, she said, had never telephoned after her daughter's death. He even refused, she said, to drop off her remaining belongings, choosing to simply turn them over to the police.

For Joyce Wilson, what Wooten said publicly after his arrest for assaulting Akina had been proven right.

''I've been here and I've been in trouble a couple of times,'' Wooten, talking of his Giants future, said shortly after his arrest. ''They understand that sometimes I have a temper and can get a little bit out of control. But they tend to look at people as football players. They want to leave it up to me. I'm a grown man.''

Photos: Tito Wooten has spent four seasons becoming a standout safety with the Giants. But he also has a history of arrests on charges of assaulting women. (Al Bello/Allsport)(pg. C1); Tito Wooten has emerged as a star defensive back after four seasons with the Giants. He signed a long-term $8 million contract recently. (Jose R. Lopez/The New York Times); Akina Wilson asked that charges against Wooten be dropped. Akina Wilson accused Tito Wooten of assaulting her at this Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., hotel last December. (Frank C. Dougherty for The New York Times)(pg. C2)